Running a business

It’s surprising how some of my past experiences have prepared me to be a Duluth City Councilor. Take Okinawa, Japan, for example. I was what amounted to the CEO of the Navy Fleet Gift Shop, overseeing a volunteer staff of 50. Our store was sort of a Pier 1 for the Navy families, with all the money going to charity. I would send staff over to neighboring countries like Thailand in order to buy all sorts of interesting items to sell. While I was there, I also boosted profits by 40 percent. Can any of my opponents say they've boosted the profits of their respective businesses by 40 percent? They might be nice people, but I doubt they've pulled that off. And we all did it out of the goodness of our hearts, and for fun. We gave away the more than $100,000 we raised to all sorts of area charities. Now, if I could pull that off in a volunteer position, imagine what I could do as a city councilor, on a mission to help Duluth.